Insulated rail joint



March 3, 1931. R. w. PAYNE INSULATED RAIL JOINT Filed April 28, 1950 Rabh Wfayne,

v UNITED STA Patented Mar. 3, 1931 TES PATENT OFFICE RALPH WOODRUFFPAYNE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR T THELRAIL JOINTCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YOBK INSULATED RAILJOINT Applitation iiled April 28,

This invention relates .to rail joint structures, and particularly to animprovement therein having special utility in connection with railjoints: of the insulated type employed in connection with tracksignalling systems.

To that end, the invention has in view a simple, and practical joint 1construction clamping force on ftheinsulatingmaterial.. of the inventionto provideja rail oint construction which is particularly applicable towherein provision ismade for an adjustment vthat eifectively keeps thejoint parts in a properly tightenedrelation,and also exertsa the railsina direction to obtain a maximum efliciency and life from Also it is anobject thattype of railroad rail now known as the .headfree rail whereinthe bottom corners of the rail. head aretruncated, and anchorages forthe head of thejoint bars are provided at andwithinthe head fillets ofthe rail.

a, With these and other objects in view which gwill be appreciatedbyjthose familiar with the art, the invention consists in the novelconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more"fully described, illustrated and claimed, and while the invention issusceptible of'structural change without departure from the spirit andscope of the appended claims, a preferred and practical embodiment isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Figural 1s a cross-sectional View of a rail In carrying forward thepresent invention 1930. Serial No. 448,129.

it is especially applicable to the headfree type of railroad rail, whichtype of rail is covered by the patent to Thomson, No. 1,507,870 datedSeptember 9, 1924, and involves as a characteristic feature thereof arail head 2 having the bottom corners truncated as at8, therebysubstantially eliminating the usual flatfishing'surface of the undersides of the head of the rail, and producing curved joint bar seats oranchorages i at or within the head fillets of the rail so that theloading engagement of the joint bars is at the head fillets of the rail.

In a rail of the type referred to, it is desirable to provide a properfitting and ad justment for the joint bars in order to maintain thepermanent loading engagement of the bars at the head fillets of therail, and in the case of insulated joints to provide for maintaining theefficiency and prolonging the life of the insulating material for a railof this type. To that end the novel joint struc ture constituting thepresent invention includes, at each side of the rail, a joint bardesignated generally by the reference letter 5 having an inclined webportion 6 provided at its outer side with the inclined downwardly andoutwardly sloping clamping face 7 and at its upper edge with a headportion 7 a the.

characteristic feature of which is the rounded bearing member 8 fittingthe head fillet 4 of the rail, or the head insulating material 9 interosed between the same and the rail. In a dition to these features, thejoint bar 5 is formed with a foot portion 10 overlying the rail flangeand preferably formed with the integral base member 11 underlying therail flange in the manner of the well known continuous-type rail jointbar.

To provide for proper adjustment of the inclined joint bar, particularlyin the direction to move its head portion inwardly into proper fittingrelationto the head fillet of the rail, there is preferably employed anadjustment wedge block 12 arranged at the outer side ofeach joint bar,and provided with-an inner inclined bearing face 13 and an outervertical boltingface 14 with which cooperate the heads and nuts ofthejoint fastening bolts 15; v

' Thestructure so far described is applicable to a standard ornon-insulated joint, but as it possessesspecialutilityvin connectionwith j an insulated construction for headfree rail there is shown inFigure 1 of'the drawings plane o-fth-e outside of the railihead. I

' Inaddition to the head insulation",9;";the 4 20.

the necessary insulating equipment. This in- 1 sulating equipment mayconsist: oftthe fibre head piece 9 fitting the 'head fillets of therail, and provided with downwardly extend ing skirt' portions l5alongside of therail web and upstanding flangeportions 16 lying betweenthe head of the bar and the truncated face of the rail head insideofithevertical insulating equipment of the joint illustrated includes{the jbasefinsulalticnpiece 17 underlyingltheffoot of the'joint bar andoverlying of the adjustment wedge blocks-12; 7

It will be seen from the construction described that a tightening of thejoint fastening boltsjcau's'es the adjustment Wedge blocks ftaini'ng'theproper tight'fit of thebar head I within'the head fillet of the rail andagainst thefinterpose'd insulation at that point where the jointisan''insul'atedjoint? In connec tiongwiththe insulated joint phase of theinvention, adetailof construction that may be the easement of'pressure'on the insulating material atthis point, thus reducing the risk ofmorequic'kly cutting out here than-at other points within the oint.

, ,In carrying outthe invention it may be found desirable tointroduce a"spring tension inthejoint fastening, and that maybe accomplishedb'yutilizing an adjustment wedge "block 12 of a spring'type ofconstruction, such for instance as shownin Figures 2 and 3 ofthedrawings.-- In Figure 2, the spring-type j beveled 'waslier l2? shownmay consist of a spring metal plate folded to provide an outervertical-bolting member 22 and inner inclined Wedge clamp ng niember23havinga sprlng clearance. Or, a'sshown in Figure 3 of'the drawings thebeveled clamping washer designated by the reference nuInb'e1-"12 may'con-" the bolt threads.

sistof a spring plate of bowed formation at its inner inclined side 24and having an outer vertical bolting face 25'. In both of these sggested modifications, as :Well as in themain construction showninFigure 1 the adjust ment wedge blocks may be only sufliciently long toaccommodate one nut, or may be suifi ciently long to accommodate two ormore nuts. Also a detailed feature of practical impor tance; inconnection with the action of the wedge blocks 12Ais preferably toprovide or form on the outer inclined'face of the joint bar a stopbead'or projection 26 locatedin I proximity to the tops ofthe wedgeblocks and-actin as sto s. reventinv u ward dis placement of theseblocksthereby preventing cutting. orrdamageto the bolt insulation or to.

'{Qther'modifications (if the invention will be apparent without furtherdescription,and

it is to be'understood that various changes in the'jforin, proportion,and; minor details of constructionmay be resorted to,without departingfrom the'spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

1'. A rail j'ointincluding the rail and the joint bar, the jointbarhavinganouter clamping face inclined downwardly and outwardly fromthe-headjto the ba'se'of the bar, and as;

we age-memb r engaging said face and-having I u 'an outerboltin'grface.r r I '12 to have awedging engagement with the f inclined'clanipin'g'ifaces 7 of the joint bars in such a manner, and exertedinsuch a dire'ction,--that an inward adjustment of the "headofthe'bar iscompulsory, thereby main- 2'. A' rail -joint including the rail, a jointbar'having loading cooperationfat'its head j s. Arailfjoint including arail havingzbar anchorages withinthe head fillets, andtrung cations atthe bottom corners ofmits head, a resorted to theprovision of aneasement groove -or depression2l formed in the head of the baroppositethe'outer terminus of the rail head fillet This feature.provides for joint barhavingaloading engagement in said anchorages,.joint :insulation including head I an easement depressioninits headopposite theouter terminus of the rail headifillet, and insulationinterposed between the rail and said'bar. & I v 5, Arail joint includinga rail having head fillets andtrunc'ations at the bottom. corners of itshead, a joint bar formed at the upper inner corner of its head forloading cooper- .ation with'a head fillet of the rail, and a head pieceof insulation disposed betweentheupper inner corner of thejoint bar andthe related head filletof the rail and extending into the spaceprovidedby tie adjacent truncation ofthe bottom corner of the rail head.

wedge adjusting means for the v 6. A rail joint including the rail, andthe joint bar, the joint bar havin an outer clam ing face inclineddownward y and outwa y from the head to the base of the bar, a wedgemember engaging said face and having an outer bolting face, and a. stopformation on the outer face of the joint bar to limit upward movement ofthe wedge member relative to the'joint bar. 16 In testimony whereof Ihereunto aflix my signature.

RALPH WOODRUFF PAYNE.

